Conference Speakers

Friday, February 16

Elizabeth K. Uhrig
Capt. Elizabeth K. Uhrig enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1976 and became the first female to graduate the Coast Guard’s Aviation Electronics School. In addition to working on C-130s and Albatross, she flew as radio operator and then navigator on the C-130.

Uhrig graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1984 with a degree in Ocean Engineering. After going to sea for a year and a half, she went to U.S. Naval Flight Training in Pensacola, Florida. After her graduation from Flight Training she flew search and rescue, drug interdiction, and other law enforcement flights for the Coast Guard. Her last tour of duty prior to retirement in 2000 she flew as one of the Commandant of the Coast Guard’s pilots aboard a Gulfstream III.

Uhrig was hired by Chevron in 2000 to fly the Gulfsteam GIII, Hawker, and now Gulfstream GIV corporate aircraft. To date she has visited 74 countries as a Chevron pilot, and still counting.

Ed Bolen
Ed Bolen is president and CEO of the National Business Aviation Association, Inc. (NBAA), with headquarters in Washington, DC.

Prior to joining NBAA, Bolen was president and CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA). Bolen joined GAMA in 1995 as senior vice president and general counsel. GAMA’s board of directors elected him president and CEO in November 1996.

Bolen was nominated by President Bush to serve as a member of the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry. Established by Congress, the commission’s objectives were to study and make recommendations on ways to ensure American leadership in aerospace in the 21st century. The final report was released in November 2002.

Bolen was nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a member of the Management Advisory Council (MAC) to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). He chaired the Council from 2000 to 2004.

Bolen is currently vice chairman of RTCA, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation that functions as a Federal Advisory Committee to the FAA on matters related to communications, surveillance, navigation and air traffic management. He also serves on the Aviation Advisory Board of the Mitre Corporation, a federally funded research and development corporation.

He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Flight Safety Foundation and the Board of Directors of the National Aeronautic Association. He also serves on the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of The National Academies.

Prior to his association career, Bolen was majority general counsel to the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. He also served as legislative director for U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS) and was a key player in the passage of the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994.

Bolen received his Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Kansas. He is a graduate of the Tulane University School of Law and holds a Master of Laws degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

Bolen, a recreational pilot, is also a competitive tennis player and former captain of the University of Kansas varsity tennis team.

Bonnie Dunbar
Dr. Bonnie Dunbar is the President and CEO of the Museum of Flight, located in Seattle, Washington.

Dunbar graduated college in 1971 and went right to work for Boeing Computer Services as a systems analyst. From 1973 to 1975, she conducted research for her master’s thesis in the field of mechanisms and kinetics of ionic diffusion in sodium beta-alumina. In 1975, she was invited to participate in research at Harwell Laboratories in Oxford, England, as a visiting scientist. Her work there involved the wetting behavior of liquids on solid substrates. Following her work in England, she accepted a senior research engineer position with Rockwell International Space Division in Downey, California. Her responsibilities there included developing equipment and processes for the manufacture of the Space Shuttle thermal protection system.

Dunbar completed her doctorate at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Her multi-disciplinary dissertation (materials science and physiology) involved evaluating the effects of simulated space flight on bone strength and fracture toughness. These results were correlated to alterations in hormonal and metabolic activity. Dr. Dunbar has served as an adjunct assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston.

Dr. Dunbar is a private pilot with over 200 hours in single engine land aircraft, has logged more than 700 hours flying time in T-38 jets as co-pilot, and has over 100 hours as co-pilot in a Cessna Citation Jet. Dr. Dunbar retired from NASA in September 2005, after five space flights and more than 50 days logged in space.

Saturday, February 17

Jane Middleton
Since she was a small child growing up in England Jane Middleton has always been a keen aviation enthusiast. In her mid-thirties decided she set out to become a commercial pilot, however, fate interfered and Middleton was denied a Class 1 medical. After the initial disappointment she decided that a career in aviation management would provide her the challenge she was looking for.

Middleton became Financial Controller of Rockwell Collins (UK) Ltd in 2004. Rockwell’s business covers both the defense and commercial aviation industries. In May 2006 she was promoted to the role of Finance Director and joined the UK Board. Her responsibilities include finance, commercial contracts, procurement and facilities.

Before Rockwell Collins, Middleton worked for a private jet company and American Airlines. She joined Women in Aviation, International in 1997 and attended her first Conference in Dallas the same year. Within two weeks of returning to England, she had been offered a job as the Financial Controller of Virgin Atlantic Cargo where she went on to become a Cargo Operations Manager, all the while earning a Masters Degree in Air Transport Management at City University in London, England. She then went on to be a Finance Manager with TNT European Airline.

She is a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society, The Air League and The UK Aviation Club (a forum for leaders within the UK aviation industry).

Middleton served eight years with the Royal Auxiliary Air and is now a Trustee of the Royal Air Force Museum. As the Chair of the Education and Research Committee at the Museum she is keen to promote aviation careers for young women.

Will Whitehorn
Will Whitehorn, Director of Virgin Group and President of Virgin Galactic joined Virgin Group in 1987, as head of corporate public relations.

Whitehorn was responsible for all public relations activity relating to the buyout of the Group from the stock market in 1988 (one of the few successful buyouts of the decade) and for presenting Virgin’s new joint venture strategy in the years 1988 to 1991. From 1993 to 1995, he worked with Sir Richard Branson, and other directors from around the Virgin Group to expand the brand, which resulted in the launch of Virgin Radio in 1994, Virgin Direct in 1995, Virgin Cinemas in 1995, Virgin Net in 1996, Virgin Rail in 1997 and Virgin Mobile in 1999. In 2000 he was appointed Brand Development and Corporate Affairs Director of Virgin world-wide and became one of the five directors responsible for managing Virgin’s unique venture capital portfolio of global businesses through its Investment Advisory Committee.

In addition to his full time role at the Virgin Group, Whitehorn was appointed President of Virgin Galactic LLC in 2004, following the successful negotiation of the rights to develop technology in SpaceShipOne, licensed from the Mojave Aerospace Ventures, a Paul G. Allen company. The company is now developing SpaceShipTwo with The Spaceship Company and Scaled Composites in Mojave, California.

Before entering the public relations industry, Whitehorn worked for British Airways as a helicopter crewman in the North Sea, was a Graduate trainee with Thomas Cook Group and finally market intelligence officer for the TSB Bank (now Lloyds TSB). He was educated in Edinburgh (Scotland) and graduated from Aberdeen University in 1981 with an honors degree in history and economics. Whitehorn is married with two children and lives in London and East Sussex. His hobbies are archery, shooting, sailing, chess and bridge.

Major Nicole M.E. Malachowski
Major Nicole Malachowski, 32, in her second season with the U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron, “Thunderbirds”, flies the No. 3 jet as the right wing pilot in the diamond formation.

Major Malachowski entered the Air Force in 1996 upon graduation from the U.S. Air Force Academy. Before her assignment to the team, Major Malachowski served as an F-15E Instructor Pilot and Flight Commander with the 494th Fighter Squadron, RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom. She has logged more than 1,900 hours as an Air Force pilot, with more than 1,700 hours in the F-15E and F-16C/D. She’s been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster and an Air Force Achievement Medal with two oak leaf clusters. Major Malachowski calls Las Vegas, Nevada, home.